History - Story of the World & Intellego History of the World Volume 1: In The Beginning

We started The Story of the World (SOTW) last week and although we have been very much enjoying the book, I wanted to add in more depth, along with some online activities. Thanks to the ladies at The Secular Homeschool forum/community, I researched multiple suggested secular history curricula and we have added in the Intellego Ancient History Volumes 1, 2 and 3 Unit Studies.

Today we started with Ancient History Volume 1 and CKW really enjoyed it! We discussed how to think like an historian and archeology, especially as compared to geology and paleontology. We did a quick diagram of our family tree and then discussed how our family history has affected our lives today - drawing parallels to world history and our world today. CKW made up a list of questions to ask his grandfather about his childhood (75-80 years ago), as well as another list he is hoping that his grandfather will be able to answer about his great-great grandfather's childhood (140 years ago). The links in the Intellego units are a hit, to say the least.

I was pleasantly surprised how much he had retained from our SOTW readings. When the Intellego unit asked what he knew about history, he was able to state quite a bit of correct information about nomads, hunter/gathers, the fertile crescent, Mesopotamia, ancient Egypt, mummies, etc. Any concerns I had about whether or not he was retaining information from our shared reading sessions have been put to rest!

Canada Post is still on strike, so I continue to wait for our Moving Beyong the Page and Teaching Textbooks orders. I have the Critical Thinking books I ordered here, but think I will save those for the 'real' start of Grade Two. CKW enjoys ancient history and when I told him tonight that this was how homeschooling happens, he immediately jumped up onto me and very excitedly said: "Well then, I want to be homeschooled for sure!"

Blogsy Test Post

If you can read this, it worked!

Kindling

Truthfully, I've been thinking of homeschooling my son since before he started public school!  We live in rural Northern Ontario, Canada and have only one local public school available to our family.  No french public school, no public french immersion, no private schools, etc.  Catholic children have multiple school choices, but for a secular education it's english public school - take it or leave it! 

Unfortunately, because I am a single parent with chronic, disabling health issues, I have been unable to do so while he was quite young and required full time adult attention.  The CKW (Cutest Kid in the World) has attended every-other-day Junior Kindergarten, then Senior Kindergarten and is now finishing up Grade One at our local public school.  I've been volunteering in his classroom once weekly this year, helping the children with their reading, and having my eyes opened to the world of institutionalized learning.  My brother is a corrections officer and he agrees with me - in both our eyes, public school is very similar to jail!

Thankfully I found the Secular Homeschool Community online and have been researching homeschool issues, styles, and curriculum for months now.  I've ordered and received several products from The Critical Thinking Company, have placed an order for curriculum from Moving Beyond The Page and Teaching Textbooks, have purchased and started reading Bernard J Nebel's Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding: A Science Curriculum for K-2, have downloaded several elective units from Connect The Thoughts and have started teaching The Story of the World Volume I: Ancient Times From the Earliest Nomads to the Last Roman Emperor by Susan Wise Bauer, using the Mosaic unit studies provided by Bringing Up Learners. 

I've provided links for the curriculum we're using, as well as other educational resources that interest me, and I'll be discussing each element of our curriculum in upcoming posts...  Today, I wanted to get the fire started!